House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo joined with Rep. Cutler and his colleagues in the Legislature to mark the end of the legislative session and highlight accomplishments of the productive 2017-2018 session that included the passage of several landmark bills. Over the past two years, the Legislature passed major bills relating to criminal justice, gun safety, those struggling with addiction, women’s rights, economic development, veterans benefits, consumer data protections, and energy and the environment.

“We’ve had a productive and successful session the results of which provide real-world and balanced solutions to save lives, support our communities, empower working families and businesses as well as address the effects of climate change,” said Speaker DeLeo, (D – Winthrop). “I’m pleased that amid a charged national political atmosphere, we were able to agree to a fiscally-responsible budget and a bundle of legislation that serves our vulnerable residents and keeps our cities and towns safe by supporting children, first responders, veterans and small business.”

Resting on a longstanding practice of strong fiscal management, the House passed two balanced state budgets – with landmark investments in early education, benefits for low-income families, workforce development, housing as well as programs to prevent and treat opioid addiction. These included no new major taxes. This year the budget surplus increased the state’s Stabilization Fund, which is expected to surpass $2 billion in Fiscal Year 2019.

With the tragic events resulting from mass shootings unfolding across the country, the House took action twice this session to pass Massachusetts’ already nation-leading policies designed to promote gun safety. This session Massachusetts took another leap forward with new laws aimed at preventing those individuals who pose a risk of causing bodily injury to themselves or others from owning or possessing a firearm as well as providing them with crisis intervention, mental health, substance abuse and counseling services. In addition the House passed legislation banning the sale, purchase or ownership of a “bump stock” device, which is designed to increase a weapon’s rate of fire and mimic automatic gun fire.

While focused on protecting our residents from gun violence, the House took action to address the opioid crisis with sweeping initiatives to promote behavioral health for adults and children and measures to prevent substance use disorders. The legislation takes measures including expanding access to non-opioid treatment options for pain management; establishing grants to benefit substance exposed newborn children and prohibiting discounts and rebates for certain prescription opioids. It also takes steps to improve the quality of patient care at treatment facilities, expands access to Narcan and increases training for law enforcement to respond to behavioral health crisis.

This past spring the House passed the most comprehensive criminal justice reform legislation in a generation to establish a more equitable system by supporting our youngest and most vulnerable residents, reducing recidivism, increasing judicial discretion, and enhancing public safety.

As part of the reforms, the House also acted on its longstanding legacy of supporting the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable children by raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility from age seven to age ten and decriminalizes a first offense misdemeanor if the punishment is a fine or imprisonment for not more than six months.

The reforms also bolster the House’s multi-tiered approach to combatting the opioid epidemic by creating the nation’s strongest law for trafficking Carfentanil and by strengthening the Fentanyl trafficking law. The legislation requires district attorneys to create pre-arraignment diversion programs for military personnel, veterans, and individuals with addiction or mental health issues. It removes the age restriction to participate in a diversion program, as they are currently only available to defendants 22 and under.

The legislation also includes the following provisions.

For the first time in the history of Massachusetts, this legislation establishes a process for expunging criminal records.

Courts will now be able to expunge the records of certain juvenile and young adults aged 18 to 21, and records in cases of fraud or where an offense is no longer a crime.

The legislation also toughens penalties for repeat offenders convicted of operating under the influence (OUI).

Updates the Commonwealth’s Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) system to help individuals secure gainful employment and housing.

Building off its tradition of protecting women’s rights, the House passed landmark legislation to guarantee reasonable accommodations and safety measures for pregnant workers. With an uncertain future for federal action on reproductive rights, the Legislature Massachusetts took decisive action to protect the rights for women across the Commonwealth by passing legislation to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to repeal outdated state laws directed at limiting a woman’s right to make decisions about her own reproductive health.

Renewing its dedication to balancing the needs ofworkers and small businesses, the House passed legislation to raise the minimum wage; create a framework for paid family and medical leave for most workers; and to establish a permanent sales tax holiday.

Facing an unprecedented number of data breeches across the nation from national credit reporting entities and retailers, the House passed a bill to put into place enhanced protections for consumers against data breaches, making it easier for consumers to monitor their credit and request security freezes on data. The bill requires entities that have been breached to limit fees associated with data breach protections as well as requires transparency from breached companies and their affiliates. In addition, breached entities are required to provide more detailed consumer notifications about data breaches and options to help consumers better protect themselves.

Recognizing the critical needs of the Commonwealth’s first responders, the House passed a bundle of bills aimed at supporting enhanced police training, provisions to protect firefighting men and women as they recover from work-related cancer illnesses and providing access to confidential mental health services for those responders recovering from traumatic events.

The House also passed legislation to spur economic development across the Commonwealth with investments including public infrastructure projects like street and sewer improvements and for multi-family housing and mixed-use development, and transportations in communities across the Commonwealth. The legislation also includes investments to grow jobs coastal communities; fund; boost manufacturing innovation; support technology development and innovation; and expand career technical training programs. The legislation also establishes and apprenticeship tax credit for employers and limits the enforcement of and sets standards for non-compete agreements in Massachusetts. The legislation funds initiatives that help small businesses grow and establishes tax credits for businesses that occupy vacant storefronts in downtown areas.

This session the House took action to foster an inclusive and just elections process by establishing automatic voter registration.

In response to calls for increased awareness of students of how the U.S. democratic system works at the local, state and federal government levels, the House passed a bill requiring schools to incorporate civics education with a focus on hand-on learning voting activities and media literacy.

As part of an ongoing effort to protect the health of our youth, only those aged 21 or older may purchase tobacco products in Massachusetts as a result of the Legislature’s action on this issue.

Massachusetts is a known national leader in environmental policy and this year’s environmental bond bill bolsters that position by dedicating $2.4 billion to improving climate change resiliency and adaptation; enhancing environmental and natural resource protection; and investing in parks and recreational assets. The legislation passed ensures that Massachusetts can continue to plan for global warming and a changing climate, including along vulnerable coastlines with $225 million in community investment grants, $100 million for energy and environment coastal infrastructure, and $54 million in rural investments.

This year the House passed a bill to enhance certain benefits for Massachusetts veterans including increases to assistance with funeral and burial expenses; relating to property taxes, and designating April 5 as Gold Star Wives Day and the last Sunday in September to Gold Star Mothers and Families Day.

Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Highlights

Education

$4.9 billion in Chapter 70 education funding, which represents an increase of 3.4 percent over the previous fiscal year and increases funding for employee health care costs by $39 million.

$319.4 million to fund the Special Education Circuit Breaker, $90 million for Charter School Reimbursement.

$68.9 million for Regional School Transportation.

$10 million to create an EEC community college workforce development initiative.

Children and families

Lifts the cap on benefits for children of low income families.

$2.5 million for continued support for early childhood mental health consultation services

$20 million to support high-quality Early Education and Care (EEC) programs.

Housing

$100 million for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP).

$32 million for the HomeBASE program.

$20 million for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) Program.

$5 million rapid homeless rehousing program.

Opioid epidemic

$142 million for the Bureau of Substance Addition Services to create five recovery centers in Massachusetts.

$5 million to support community-based treatment program.

$4.9 million for step-down recovery services.

$1 million to provide increased access to Narcan to first responders.

Transportation

$88 million to fund Regional Transit Authorities across Massachusetts to assure that our residents have access to reliable and affordable transportation.

State Police Oversight

Sets aside funds to establish monitoring for hiring, promotion and preferential treatment occurring within the State Police and establishes an internal audit directed by the Inspector General of the Commonwealth to prevent the abuse of public money.

Sixth Plymouth District

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